A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

A Holy Jew from Whom We Can All Learn

President hugs Elie Wiesel before a 2012 speech at the Holocaust Museum

His name was Elie Wiesel. And he was abused. But not in the way we use that word today. I am
talking about are his experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust. That kind of trauma would make most people go OTD, And for a brief moment after the Holocaust, he had thoughts about it, questioning what kind of God would do such a thing! But by all accounts, Elie Wiesel quickly rejected that kind of thinking. And became who he was. A holy man. A Kadosh right along
with the 6 million Jews (observant or not) that perished. I believe that all survivors
are Kadosh. Unfortunately a lot of Holocaust survivors abandoned their faith. And who can blame them?

Dr. Eliezer Berkovits made this very point in his book Faith
after the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a hell fiercer than Dante’s, he says. How dare
anyone question their loss of faith by a survivor! Their loss of faith was not an intellectual
disbelief. It was a belief shattered, crushed, pulverized and murdered a
millionfold! Their disbelief is a holy disbelief. Those of us that were not
there and question the disbelief of survivors desecrate the holy faith of the
believers, says Dr. Berkovits. They were human. Those that survived with belief
intact were superhuman.

Haunting words.

Elie Wiesel died last Shabbos at age 87. His life will be remembered
as synonymous with Holocaust remembrance. I have heard him referred to as the
conscience of the world. An apt title that via his books and lectures eventually
gained him the Nobel Peace Prize (1987). I don’t believe that there is anyone
who raised the consciousness of the world about the horrors of the Holocaust more
than he did. And spoke about the need to prevent it from ever happening again more than he did. For that he deserves the
eternal gratitude and respect of all people.

Trauma is what a survivor goes through,
whether it is surviving the Holocaust or surviving sex abuse. I am not comparing
the two. I have thankfully never experienced either. (I am however very
sensitive to the Holocaust as a child of survivors.)

I am simply saying that if one wants to understand why
someone goes OTD, certainly a life altering trauma will shake up the very
foundation of your beliefs. My parents retained their observance. But I was lucky.
I do not blame any Holocaust survivor for becoming non observant after the
Holocaust. None of us dare! We cannot judge because we were not there.

The same thing is true survivors of sex abuse.
We cannot judge them. We MAY not judge them. But we can judge ourselves by the
way we respond to them. And for that we do not have a good track record.

Rabbi Yakov Horowitz posted excerpts on his Facebook account
of Elie Weisel’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech. His words then apply so strongly
to how survivors of abuse feel today. And suggest how we should deal with sex
abuse. I am cross-posting them here because it is Elie Weisel’s legacy. A legacy that
teaches us important lessons for our day. Lessons that we have not yet fully learned.

... I remember: it happened yesterday or eternities ago. A
young Jewish boy discovered the kingdom of night. I remember his bewilderment,
I remember his anguish. It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The deportation.
The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and
the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed...

... And now the boy is turning to me: “Tell me,” he asks.
“What have you done with my future? What have you done with your life?” And I
tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have
tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we
are accomplices...

...And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and
wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take
sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the
tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere...

...This is what I say to the young Jewish boy wondering what
I have done with his years. It is in his name that I speak to you and that I
express to you my deepest gratitude. No one is as capable of gratitude as one
who has emerged from the kingdom of night...

...We know that every moment is a moment of grace, every
hour an offering; not to share them would mean to betray them. Our lives no
longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately...

Update
I have altered the post to eliminate ambiguous statements I made about Elie Wiesel. I surely did not make them in any way to disparage him. I believed I was being truthful without being judgmental. But it seems that I may have been in error. I apologize and regret any misunderstanding that may have resulted from my mistake.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.